The Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Ambrose Owuru, the 2019 presidential candidate of the de-registered Hope Democratic Party (HDP), seeking the removal of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from office.
In a unanimous decision delivered by a five-member panel led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, the apex court described the case as frivolous and imposed a ₦5 million fine on Owuru. The court also directed its Registry to reject any future frivolous cases filed by the plaintiff.
Owuru’s suit alleged that President Tinubu was unfit for office due to claims of being an agent of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and his previous forfeiture of $460,000 to the U.S. government in a drug-related case. He sought to have Tinubu disqualified and for the court to declare him the rightful president based on his claims of winning a referendum in 2019. Owuru argued that this referendum, which he claimed was monitored by both local and foreign observers, gave him over 50 million votes before the official presidential election was postponed.
The plaintiff further alleged that former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure was illegitimate, claiming his mandate was hijacked during the 2019 election. Owuru had previously filed similar suits, including one to stop Tinubu’s swearing-in, for which the Court of Appeal fined him ₦40 million in May 2023.
The Supreme Court’s ruling reaffirms the validity of Tinubu’s presidency and warns against abuse of judicial processes through baseless lawsuits.
